Trapped

Ji Lianyi's expression darkened abruptly. He instinctively raised his sword and pointed it at him, but his fingers trembled. He was clearly at his limit, barely able to hold the sword steady, let alone execute a sword technique.

His lips curled in a self-mocking smile, and his voice came out hoarse. "The Peacock Gate really did... account for everything."

"No..."

"Neither of us is getting out of here today, so I might as well take someone down with me. If you try to kill me, I'll destroy my spiritual root and blow myself apart. You won't survive either."

Shen Leyan: "..."

[Come on, at least let me finish.]

He stopped, pulled away the black cloth covering his face, and said helplessly, "Your Highness, it's me."

Ji Lianyi froze, his voice growing even colder. "You're with the Peacock Gate too?!"

[(ー_ー)!!]

Shen Leyan opened his mouth to explain, then realized after a moment's thought that the explanation would be rather complicated.

By the time he finished, the Peacock Gate's assassins would probably have caught up.

"First, I'm not with the Peacock Gate. Think about it, Your Highness. If I were, how could Sect Master Lu have failed to notice and even given me a token for the Cicada Song Pavilion? Second, I can't explain why I'm here in just a few words, and the Peacock Gate will soon realize you've escaped the barrier. Finally, if you want to live, you'd better come with me right now."

Ji Lianyi narrowed his foxlike eyes and stared at him without a word.

Seeing that he had stopped wildly suspecting him—or at least stopped voicing those suspicions—Shen Leyan hurried over to support him.

The moment his palm touched Ji Lianyi's sleeve, he felt something wet. He looked down. His hand was covered in blood.

"How badly are you hurt?"

He asked quietly as he helped Ji Lianyi walk away from the barrier.

Ji Lianyi fell silent for a moment. "I took a few life-saving Pills. I'll manage."

[He's pretty laid-back about this. Sure enough... someone who's been crown prince for so long couldn't just be the brutal tyrant from the rumors. Even if he really is a brutal tyrant, he's one with some actual ability.]

The crown prince of Great Xia from the rumors, whom he had first met in the Outer Sect quarters, was clearly an entirely different person from the real Ji Lianyi before him.

"I have a Nine-Turn Soul-Replenishing Pill."

It was the one Senior Brother Zheng had given him.

He had kept it all this time without using it.

He had wanted to use it when Chen Jing damaged his spiritual root, but the Nine-Turn Soul-Replenishing Pill could not heal injuries to meridians or spiritual roots.

Now, with Ji Lianyi's sword and saber wounds bleeding nonstop, it was just what he needed.

Ji Lianyi's gaze shifted slightly. "...What do you want in exchange?"

[The way he put that, you'd think his next line would be, "Would offering myself do?"]

Before Shen Leyan could speak, Ji Lianyi abruptly turned his face away. His tone, which had just softened a little, hardened again. "Forget it if you don't want to give it to me."

Shen Leyan: "..."

[These days, the injured get to call all the shots.]

"You don't need to give me anything. I just mentioned it so you wouldn't think I was feeding you poison."

Shen Leyan took out the porcelain bottle containing the Nine-Turn Soul-Replenishing Pill and pushed it into Ji Lianyi's hand.

"Take it, quick. My Spiritual Power is weak. If you pass out from blood loss and we run into those Peacock Gate assassins, I won't be able to protect you."

The Peacock Gate's assassins had a barrier under their control and several guardians out in force. Even a hundred lives would not be enough for him.

Ji Lianyi swallowed the Nine-Turn Soul-Replenishing Pill, then looked sideways at him for a while.

"If they really catch up, just run."

Shen Leyan could tell he meant it.

He did not answer, instead changing the subject. "Speaking of which, what's a crown prince like you doing out here in the middle of nowhere?"

After taking the Nine-Turn Soul-Replenishing Pill, Ji Lianyi seemed to have regained a little strength. His voice was no longer so weak.

"There was a spy among my guards... He reported that my imperial father had sent an imperial envoy with a secret decree and ordered me to come to this mountain to receive it."

"I see..."

[Since Ji Lianyi didn't question what that guard said, he must have been loyal before.]

"Then where is that spy now?"

Ji Lianyi's jaw tightened, but his tone remained emotionless. "I killed him."

Shen Leyan gave a dry "Oh," then thought for a moment and asked another question.

"...Does being crown prince mean you get targeted by assassins a lot?"

"Since I was old enough to remember, it's happened ten or so times every year." Ji Lianyi suddenly chuckled. "I thought you'd ask who hired the Peacock Gate to kill me."

Shen Leyan smiled too. "You don't fully trust me. Even if I asked, you wouldn't tell me the truth—and I'm not remotely interested in the answer."

[Are you kidding? Assassinating Great Xia's crown prince is a crime that gets your entire clan exterminated. Whoever's involved must be someone high up, with enormous power. When giants clash, what business does an ordinary Outer Sect disciple of the Cloud Radiance Sect like me have getting involved?]

[The more you know, the sooner you die. I'd like to live a few more years.]

They continued in silence.

After walking for nearly an hour, Ji Lianyi finally spoke. "Is there anywhere nearby where we can hide? I..."

Dragging his wounded body this far without a word was already no small feat.

Shen Leyan shook his head. "It's my first time on this mountain too, and I have a terrible sense of direction. I don't know where we could hide. If you need a rest, sit against a tree. I'll keep watch."

"...You have a Wind Spiritual Root. Why are you still only in the Middle Qi Refining Realm?"

Shen Leyan sighed, looking world-weary as he said wistfully, "In youth, I never knew to study hard; in old age, I regret learning too late."

[Do you really have to ask why I didn't study properly?]

Ji Lianyi's lips twitched. "You sound like an old man."

"Stop talking and get some rest. We'll have to keep moving soon. However powerful the Peacock Gate is, they wouldn't dare kill you in plain sight in the Cloud Radiance Sect's Outer Sect."

A trace of amusement flickered deep in Ji Lianyi's beautiful, foxlike eyes, only to vanish a moment later.

Shen Leyan noticed the change in his expression. "Hm?"

"The Peacock Gate's assassins are coming."

He hurriedly hauled Ji Lianyi to his feet. "Then let's go! How far away are they?"

"They'll catch up in about fifteen minutes."

He dragged Ji Lianyi onward. "Do you have any lifesaving magic artifacts left?"

"I used them all inside the barrier."

That made sense. After escaping an encirclement of so many experts, how could he have any lifesaving items left?

"It'll take at least another hour to reach the Cloud Radiance Sect's Outer Sect. With your injuries, we're moving too slowly. It might take two."

Ji Lianyi caught his wrist and pulled Shen Leyan's hand away from his arm.

"As we agreed, go on ahead. Once the Peacock Gate finds me, they won't keep chasing you."

Shen Leyan paused in surprise.

Ji Lianyi's tone grew firmer. "Use your movement art and hurry back to the Cloud Radiance Sect for help. If Sect Master Lu can come—"

"Do you have a way to survive that long?"

"...If Sect Master Lu can come, perhaps there'll still be an intact corpse left of me."

[You lunatic!]

He took the "Playing Dead Method" out of his robe. "We might as well try anything at this point. I'll carry you. Read this first."

He shoved the "Playing Dead Method" into Ji Lianyi's hands, then hoisted him onto his back without waiting for a reply.

[Eat fewer Lychees next time. You're pretty heavy.]

As he headed toward the Cloud Radiance Sect's Outer Sect, he circulated his Spiritual Power and used the wind to disperse the scent of blood they left behind.

He did not know whether it would help, but it was all he could do.

Ji Lianyi's breathing was somewhat labored, his hot breath washing over the back of Shen Leyan's neck. Shen Leyan could feel him panting faster and faster. That was not a good sign. It meant that besides the flesh wounds left by blades, Ji Lianyi had suffered serious internal injuries.

Without the effects of the Nine-Turn Soul-Replenishing Pill, he might already have passed out.

"...Talk to me for a bit. Don't fall asleep. Read that cultivation art I gave you carefully. It's better than giving up and waiting for someone to collect your corpse."

"...You don't want to see me die?"

Did he have such deep feelings for Ji Lianyi that he would brave any danger to save him? No, not really.

He was saving him simply because he had happened to run into him, and his conscience would not let him walk away without trying.

"You're Great Xia's crown prince. If you die in the Cloud Radiance Sect, you might bring trouble down on the sect. And I witnessed this assassination attempt. What if your imperial family arrests me for questioning and tortures me into confessing so I can take the blame?"

"You're certainly honest. Did Sect Master Lu give you this strange cultivation art?"

Shen Leyan answered vaguely, "No, I came across it by chance."

Ji Lianyi went quiet for a while, then tossed the "Playing Dead Method" back to him.

"I've finished reading it."

Shen Leyan was slightly surprised. "You learned it that quickly?"

"It has a bizarre name, but it's not exactly a profound cultivation art—" Ji Lianyi's voice suddenly dropped. "Quiet. The Peacock Gate is very close. Put me down and run!"

Without hesitation, Shen Leyan set him down beside a tall tree and gave his instructions as quickly as he could.

"Try to stall them. If you have no other choice, use the 'Playing Dead Method.'"

Ji Lianyi closed his eyes. "Get lost."

Shen Leyan immediately used the Azure Shadow Profound Art, speeding toward the Cloud Radiance Sect's Outer Sect with everything he had.

He had gone less than half a kilometer when a sinister voice drifted from behind him. It sounded as though the speaker's throat had been damaged, giving his voice an odd, deeply unpleasant quality.

"Your Highness certainly runs fast... You've made us search quite hard."

The Peacock Gate's assassins had already found Ji Lianyi!

Shen Leyan poured out all the Spiritual Power in his dantian. His Wind Spiritual Root seemed to sense his urgency and began circulating at tremendous speed.

No— He abruptly reined in his Spiritual Power and stopped.

The darkness behind him seemed to come alive, wrapping thickly around him. His surroundings appeared to slip free of time, freezing for a moment before subtly changing.

The trees remained the same, and clouds still obscured the moon above, but a fine rain like mist suddenly began to fall.

He could feel abundant Spiritual Power in the rain landing in his hair, along with a razor-sharp killing intent.

It was a barrier.

He had been a step too slow, failing to escape the barrier's reach before it unfolded.

He had not expected the Peacock Gate's assassins to be so cautious. Even after discovering that Ji Lianyi was at the end of his rope, they had still raised a barrier to prevent him from using another trick to escape.

And Shen Leyan was trapped inside it too. The barrier's master would naturally notice an extra person within it. Hiding or fleeing farther would do him no good.

Shen Leyan gritted his teeth, covered his face with the black cloth, and turned back toward Ji Lianyi.

"Your Highness seems rather different from the rumors... Back when your imperial father was still a prince, he hired our Peacock Gate to assassinate the other princes, and eventually ascended the throne. For the sake of that old relationship, we'll let Your Highness take your own life."

He faintly heard Ji Lianyi's low chuckle.

"So which of my dear younger brothers wants me dead?"

The Peacock Gate's assassins merely repeated, "Will Your Highness take your own life, or put up a futile struggle?"

"This is the Cloud Radiance Sect's territory. If you kill me, the Eastern Palace won't be the only power you offend."

"That is no concern of yours, Your Highness."

Shen Leyan skidded to a halt and accidentally struck a tree, making its branches and leaves rustle.

The assassins exchanging pointless words with Ji Lianyi all turned to look. One was the "friendly fellow" who had mistaken Shen Leyan for an accomplice earlier.

"I told you to guard the outside of the barrier! How did you let him escape?!"

After scolding him, the assassin bowed respectfully to their leader. "Chief Guardian, this lad only recently joined the Peacock Gate. It's his first mission..."

The guardian stared at him impassively for a moment before looking away.

"One of the new disciples the gate master recruited personally?"

"Yes... The others should still be keeping watch outside the Cloud Radiance Sect."

By the time the two finished speaking, Shen Leyan had not managed to say a single word of the excuse he had prepared.

He lowered his head, adopting a look of remorse for failing in his duty, and silently took his place beside Ji Lianyi.

Ji Lianyi naturally recognized him, but His Highness had probably been learning to control his expressions since birth. He betrayed nothing.

The Peacock Gate's guardian gradually lost patience. "If Your Highness hopes to stall until the Cloud Radiance Sect notices and sends someone, you should abandon that idea now. You there!"

The "friendly fellow" bumped Shen Leyan's shoulder and reminded him quietly, "What are you standing there for? The guardian's calling you!"

"...Guardian!" Shen Leyan acted as if he had suddenly realized, hurried forward, and bowed, speaking in a remorseful tone. "I failed in my duties earlier and couldn't kill Ji Lianyi on the spot. Please punish me, Guardian!"

The guardian was quite generous. "No matter. Ji Lianyi has many magic artifacts, and your cultivation is still low. There's no need to blame yourself too much. I'll give you a chance to redeem yourself now. Are you willing?"

Naturally, he could not answer, "I'm not."

Shen Leyan said solemnly, "Please give your orders, Guardian!"

"His Highness refuses to take his own life, so you can lend him a hand." With that, the guardian tossed him a dagger.

The dagger was made of refined steel and could slice through iron as though it were mud.

If he really killed Ji Lianyi here, the Peacock Gate would certainly have no reason to question his identity for the time being.

Once they left the Cloud Radiance Sect, he could find an excuse to slip away and return... No one would know who he was, much less that he had killed Great Xia's crown prince...

Shen Leyan gripped the dagger and walked toward Ji Lianyi, step by step, his face expressionless.